In the Beginning
Geography is destiny. New Orleans exists because of its location at the mouth of the Mississippi
River. Starting at Itasca, Minnesota, the river courses more than 2,300 miles through the
middle of the North American continent. A city was destined to be at its mouth.
The
French Connection By the mid-1600s, France had established itself in Canada and
controlled the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes. Their goal was to turn the interior of
the North American continent into New France.
The first French explorer from Canada, Robert
Cavalier de LaSalle, passed the present site of New Orleans in 1682. The Lemoyne brothers, known
as Bienville and Iberville, arrived in 1699. In spite of serious concerns about its
location, Bienville officially established the city in 1718. It was a swampy morass, infested
with mosquitoes, and overrun with snakes and alligators. Nevertheless, second engineer
Adrien de Pauger laid out the new city in the ancient gridiron pattern that we see today.
The fledgling city resembled a French Canadian
country village and had very few people. The French Crown did not populate the area and New
Orleans did not prosper under French rule
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La Nouvelle-Orléans in 1764, before
the Spanish arrived. Less than 5,000 residents: mostly French-speaking whites, free people of
color, and slaves. |
The Spanish
Connection Spain acquired New Orleans and part of the Louisiana Territory in
1763 because of the defeat of France in the Seven Year War. The Spanish established the
post of New Iberia for the Acadians exiled from Nova Scotia. They brought Canary Islanders who
settled in lower St. Bernard Parish, but made no effort to populate New Orleans.
New Orleans grew under Spanish rule because of
English and American settlement of the Ohio Valley. With the establishment of the United States,
American trade through New Orleans expanded rapidly.
The French
Reconnection On October 1, 1800, Spain retroceded Louisiana to France. The
United States hungrily eyed the “Isle of Orleans” and its strategic location at the mouth of
the river. Even as the U.S. and French diplomats began negotiations to purchase New Orleans, the
U.S. Congress gave President Jefferson approval to take New Orleans by force if necessary.
The
Americans Napoleon realized that he would
probably lose Louisiana to the hated English. Rather
than see that happen, he decided to sell, not just New Orleans, but all of Louisiana.
France and the U.S. completed the sale and transfer of the Louisiana Territory in 1803 at
the Cabildo on Jackson Square.
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The
Cabildo was built for
the Spanish city council in 1799. The French Mansard roof and cupola were added in 1851. |
Many in the United States, including clergy,
politicians, and journalists, berated Jefferson’s decision. It would mean the end of the
nation. The new country had enough land already. The purchase would divide the
nation. Some of this probably stemmed from a fear of the unknown. The United States was
English and Protestant. Those who peopled the new territory were French and Catholic.
Becoming
American In 1803, the city had 8,000
residents, approximately 3,000 were whites, 3,000 were free persons of color, and 2,000 were
African slaves. By 1830, with 46,000 people, it was
America's fifth largest city and the largest city in the lower Mississippi Valley. Its
growth was the result of the westward movement and of the industrialization of the American
Northeast and of Great Britain.
As a seaport , New
Orleans had a large population of immigrants,
sailors, and tourists. Its restaurants, bars, gaming
houses, theaters and red light districts led to the growth of the hospitality industry.
New Orleans Creole cuisine first gained international acclaim during the 1800s.
Creole cuisine is a style of cooking unique to New Orleans that blends African, Native
American, Caribbean, French, Italian, Spanish and American influences.
Cotton was the core business
in New Orleans before the Civil War. The cotton boom
made New Orleans the banking and financial center of the lower Mississippi. The weakness of the
cotton business was its dependence on slave labor.
War and
Reconstruction In 1861, New Orleans was the largest city in the South. Citizens
opposed secession, not because they opposed slavery, but because they believed that the war
would ruin the economy. It did. New Orleans went from being a prosperous city to
being a poor city.
New Orleans Rebounds
Again and Again The city rebounded in the 1880s and continued to expand into the
1900s. Today, the port complex is among the largest in the world. Immigrants
continue to find a home in New Orleans. The largest groups over the last 45 years have
been Vietnamese, Hispanics from Central and South America, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, and Middle
Easterners.
This statue on the river walk celebrates the arrival of our immigrants.
Although more than half of New Orleans is above
sea level, the failure of federally constructed levees in the 2005 hurricane left the city
devastated by flood waters. Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath flooded 80% of New Orleans.
Despite this disaster, New Orleanians continue to follow the example of their predecessors who
overcame death dealing epidemics, hurricanes, fires, and frequent floods to rebuild and
thrive.
Learn more about our complex history by taking a
New Orleans Walking Tour.
Vive la Nouvelle-Orléans!
Sources: www.gatewayno.com;
www.madere.com; www.wikipedia.com;
Autobiographical Recollections by Rev. T. Clapp; Beautiful Crescent
by Garvey and Widmer; Geographies of New Orleans by Campanella; Lost New
Orleans by Cable.
